Royal Rumble (2009)
| Royal Rumble (2009) | |||
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| File:30068 PPV RR aff ban 300x450.jpg Promotional poster featuring various WWE Superstars | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment | ||
| Date | January 25, 2009 | ||
| City | Detroit, Michigan | ||
| Venue | Joe Louis Arena | ||
| Attendance | 16,685 | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| Royal Rumble chronology | |||
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Royal Rumble (2009), a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), took place on January 25, 2009, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.[2] The 22nd event produced under the "Royal Rumble" name, it featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. The card of the event featured five matches.
The main event, the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match, starred wrestlers from all the three WWE brands. Randy Orton, the eighth entrant, won the match by last eliminating Triple H, the seventh entrant. As a tradition, Orton received a World Championship match at WrestleMania XXV of his choice for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship. For the third straight year, there was an uneven distribution of participants in the Royal Rumble match among the brands (with fifteen from Raw, ten from SmackDown, four from ECW, and one special guest entrant).
The predominant match on the SmackDown brand consisted of a No Disqualification match between Jeff Hardy and Edge for Hardy's WWE Championship. Edge won with pinfall after Jeff's brother, Matt Hardy, interfered in the match and hit Jeff with a steel chair. The primary match on the Raw brand featured John Cena defending the World Heavyweight Championship against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL): Cena won by pinfall after performing an Attitude Adjustment. The undercard consisted of Jack Swagger versus Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship and Beth Phoenix versus Melina for the WWE Women's Championship.
The event had 450,000 PPV buys, down on the Royal Rumble 2008 figure of 533,000 buys.[3]
Background
Royal Rumble 2009 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi - World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches.[4] The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees were assigned to a television program of the same name.[5]
The prime match scripted into the Royal Rumble, the annual Royal Rumble match, has featured at every Royal Rumble event since its inception. The match featured 30 male wrestlers from WWE's three brands; 23 participants were officially announced by WWE for the match. The match ends when one wrestler remains in the ring, after the elimination of all the 29 other wrestlers via being tossed over the top ring rope and having both feet touch the floor. The winner earned an opportunity to challenge for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship at WWE's April WrestleMania XXV pay-per-view.[6]
The main rivalry from the Raw brand played out between John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) over the World Heavyweight Championship. JBL earned his championship match against Cena after winning a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match—a standard match in which the last remaining competitor who has not been eliminated is declared the winner—on the December 29, 2008 episode of Raw by defeating Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels.[7]
Another rivalry from the Raw brand came with Melina challenging Beth Phoenix for her WWE Women's Championship in a singles match. Melina won the opportunity to face Phoenix on the December 29, 2008 episode of Raw by winning a battle royal, a match similar to the Royal Rumble, though with fewer competitors.[7]
The main rivalry from the SmackDown brand incorporated into the Royal Rumble featured Jeff Hardy and Edge, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship. At WWE's previous pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Hardy had defeated defending champion Edge and Triple H in a Triple Threat match, a standard match involving three wrestlers, to win the WWE Championship. On the January 2, 2009 episode of SmackDown, on-air authority figure Vickie Guerrero announced that Edge would face Hardy for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble.[8]
The ECW brand's main rivalry, that between Jack Swagger and Matt Hardy, had the two feuding over the ECW Championship. On the January 13, 2009 edition of ECW on Syfy, Swagger defeated Hardy to capture the ECW Championship. On the January 16 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, it was announced by WWE that Swagger would defend the ECW title against Hardy in a rematch at the Royal Rumble.
Event
Preliminary matches
The first match of the evening saw Jack Swagger defend the ECW Championship against Matt Hardy. The match started with both wrestlers countering the other's moves, until Swagger injured Hardy's left shoulder and then targeted it for the rest of the match. Swagger ultimately defeated Hardy by pinning him after slamming him to the match with a gutwrench powerbomb and retained the ECW title.[9]
The second match on the card involved the WWE Women's Championship, where Beth Phoenix defended her title against Melina. The match ended as Phoenix attempted to perform the Glam Slam on Melina, but the latter countered it into a roll-up pin, giving her the win and the Women's Championship.[10]
Main event matches
The third match on the card pitted John Cena against JBL for the World Heavyweight Championship. JBL's employee Shawn Michaels accompanied him to the ring and first got involved in the match when the referee became incapacitated; he came into the ring and performed his Sweet Chin Music finisher both on JBL and Cena. He then left ringside, leaving JBL's arm on top of Cena. Cena however managed to get a shoulder up and performed an Attitude Adjustment to retain his World Championship.[11]
The fourth match on the card involved the WWE Championship, as Jeff Hardy defended his title against Edge. Before the match began Vickie Guerrero came out and announced it as a No Disqualification match. Edge then revealed that Chavo Guerrero would be in his corner. During the match, Hardy brought a ladder out and set it up near the Spanish announce table. When Chavo tried to interfere, Hardy put him on the table and jumped off the ladder, connecting with Chavo and breaking the table. Hardy then had the match won when he performed the Swanton on Edge after kicking Vickie off the apron when she tried to interfere. When Hardy went for the pin, Vickie stopped referee Scott Armstrong from making a three count. Jeff's brother Matt then made his way to the ring, placing a chair under Edge's face. Grabbing another chair, Matt at first appeared to be setting Edge up for his own version of Edge's con-chair-to maneuver. However, he instead smashed Jeff in the head with a chair, and Edge then pinned Jeff to become the new WWE Champion.[12]
The main event consisted of the Royal Rumble match. Rey Mysterio and John Morrison started the Rumble. The final six participants left in the match were The Big Show, The Undertaker, Triple H and The Legacy (Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase and Randy Orton). While the Undertaker and Big Show brawled on the outside apron (both went over the top rope, but had not hit the floor), Orton eliminated Big Show with an RKO, causing him to fall off the apron. Big Show eliminated The Undertaker shortly afterward when he pulled his opponent off the apron by his leg. Despite being at a disadvantage against the Legacy, Triple H eliminated both DiBiase and Rhodes. With Triple H by the ropes, Orton quickly clotheslined him from behind to send him over the top rope and become the winner of the Royal Rumble match.[13]
Aftermath
Reception
The event was very well received by critics, The Sun noting the high quality of the matches, the surprising results, heel turns, and a superior quality Royal Rumble match. Randy Orton's victory was also well praised as it set up an intriguing story for WrestleMania XXV, however, the win was also seen as obvious and predictable. The Sun ended the review with a high, 9 out of 10 score.[14]
Results
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Time[15] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | Jimmy Wang Yang defeated Paul Burchill[15] | Singles match | N/A |
| 1 | Jack Swagger (c) defeated Matt Hardy[9] | Singles match for the ECW Championship | 10:27 |
| 2 | Melina defeated Beth Phoenix (c) (with Santino Marella)[10] | Singles match for the WWE Women's Championship | 5:56 |
| 3 | John Cena (c) defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (with Shawn Michaels)[11] | Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship | 15:25 |
| 4 | Edge (with Chavo Guerrero) defeated Jeff Hardy (c) (with Matt Hardy)[12] | No Disqualification match for the WWE Championship | 19:21 |
| 5 | Randy Orton last eliminated Triple H to win.[13] | 2009 Royal Rumble match | 58:37 |
(c) - refers to the champion heading into the match
| |||
^ - The winner had the option of choosing which championship he would challenge for at Wrestlemania XXV.[6]
Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations
Red ██ and "Raw" indicates a Raw superstar, blue ██ and "SD" indicates a SmackDown superstar, purple ██ and "ECW" indicates an ECW superstar, and white indicates a special guest entrant.[16]
| Draw | Entrant | Brand | Order | Eliminated by | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rey Mysterio | Raw | 20 | Big Show | 49:24 |
| 2 | John Morrison | ECW | 6 | Triple H | 19:32 |
| 3 | Carlito | SD | 3 | Kozlov | 6:11 |
| 4 | Montel Vontavious Porter | SD | 2 | Kozlov | 3:52 |
| 5 | The Great Khali | SD | 1 | Kozlov | 1:30 |
| 6 | Vladimir Kozlov | SD | 4 | Triple H | 2:40 |
| 7 | Triple H | SD | 29 | Orton | 49:55 |
| 8 | Randy Orton | Raw | — | Winner | 48:27 |
| 9 | JTG | Raw | 7 | Undertaker | 11:59 |
| 10 | Ted DiBiase | Raw | 27 | Triple H | 45:11 |
| 11 | Chris Jericho | Raw | 23 | Undertaker | 37:17 |
| 12 | Mike Knox | Raw | 19 | Big Show | 32:42 |
| 13 | The Miz | ECW | 5 | Triple H | 1:18 |
| 14 | Finlay | ECW | 21 | Kane | 29:59 |
| 15 | Cody Rhodes | Raw | 28 | Triple H | 37:01 |
| 16 | The Undertaker | SD | 26 | Big Show^ | 32:29 |
| 17 | Goldust | Raw | 8 | Rhodes | 1:11 |
| 18 | CM Punk | Raw | 18 | Big Show | 22:29 |
| 19 | Mark Henry | ECW | 9 | Mysterio | 3:14 |
| 20 | Shelton Benjamin | SD | 10 | Undertaker | 4:17 |
| 21 | William Regal | Raw | 11 | Punk | 4:23 |
| 22 | Kofi Kingston | Raw | 12 | Kendrick | 6:58 |
| 23 | Kane | Raw | 24 | Rhodes, DiBiase and Orton | 18:21 |
| 24 | R-Truth | SD | 17 | Big Show | 12:06 |
| 25 | Rob Van Dam | — | 22 | Jericho | 13:56 |
| 26 | The Brian Kendrick | SD | 13 | Triple H | 0:15 |
| 27 | Dolph Ziggler | Raw | 14 | Kane | 0:21 |
| 28 | Santino Marella | Raw | 15 | Kane | 0:01 |
| 29 | Jim Duggan | Raw | 16 | Big Show | 2:50 |
| 30 | The Big Show | SD | 25 | Orton | 9:32 |
^ Randy Orton had already eliminated The Big Show prior to his elimination to The Undertaker.
See also
References
- ^ "WWE Royal Rumble". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
Special thanks to Kevin Rudolf, whose "Let it Rock" is the official theme of the Royal Rumble. The track is off his Cash Money Records debut, In the City, which is available now.
- ^ "WWE Royal Rumble event details". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ^ "WWE Reports 2009 First Quarter Results" (PDF). World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment of World Wrestling Entertainment". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ^ "WWE Launches ECW As Third Brand". World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ^ a b "Preview: 30-Man Royal Rumble match". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ^ a b Adkins, Greg (2008-12-29). "Results: And they're off..." World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ^ Passero, Mitch (2009-01-02). "Results: Hardy New Year!". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
- ^ a b Burdick, Michael (2009-01-25). "Results:Solidification with a Swagger". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ a b "Results:Viva Melina!". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ a b Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-01-25). "Results:Beating the odds". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ a b DiFino, Lenny (2009-01-25). "Results:Royal Rumble: Hardy's twisted fate brings gold to Edge". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ a b Tello, Craig (2009-01-25). "Results:Detroit "RKO" City". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ "Now the Legacy really begins". The Sun. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ^ a b "Royal Rumble". prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
- ^ "2009 Royal Rumble Statistics and Eliminations". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-06.